"6 to 8 feet" isn't really a tree. Here's a few medium to large shrubs that you can "limb up" to create a multi-trunked tree look; although they'll want to get taller than 8 feet, you can keep them at 8 with creative pruning: Acca (Feijoa) sellowiana PINEAPPLE GUAVA Arbutus unedo 'Compacta' STRAWBERRY TREE Arctostaphylos ÂAustin Griffiths AUSTIN GRIFFITHS MANZANITA Arctostaphylos densiflora ÂHarmony HARMONY MANZANITA Arctostaphylos manzanita ÂDr. Hurd DR. HURD MANZANITA Arctostaphylos pajaroensis ÂParadise PAJARO MANZANITA Banksia ashbyi ASHBYÂS BANKSIA Banksia brownii FEATHER-LEAD BANKSIA Banksia coccinea SCARLET BANKSIA Banksia menziesii RASPBERRY FROST Callistemon citrinus ÂMauve Mist M. M. BOTTLEBRUSH Callistemon citrinus LEMON BOTTLEBRUSH Callistemon phoeniceus LESSER BOTTLEBRUSH Callistemon rigidus STIFF BOTTLEBRUSH Callistemon salignus WHITE BOTTLEBRUSH Cercis occidentalis WESTERN REDBUD Comarostaphylis diversifolia SUMMER HOLLY Cotinus coggygria SMOKETREE Escallonia laevis PINK ESCALLONIA Escallonia x exoniensis ÂBalfouriÂ, ÂFrades HYBRID ESCALLONIA Grevillea asplenifolia FERN-LEAF GREVILLEA Grevillea ÂHoneygemÂ, ÂIvanhoeÂ, ÂLong JohnÂ, ÂPoorinda BlondieÂ, ÂRed HooksÂ, HYBRID GREVILLEA Grevillea hookeriana TOOTHBRUSH GREVILLEA Grevillea olivacea OLIVE-LEAF GREVILLEA Grevillea victoriae ÂMurray Valley Queen M. V. Q. GREVILLEA Hakea arachaeoides SPIDER HAKEA Hakea bucculenta HOT POKERS Hakea francisiana PINK SPIKE HAKEA Hakea laurina SEA URCHIN, PINCUSHION TREE Leptospermum lanigerum WOOLY TEA TREE Leptospermum polygalifolium ÂYarra River RED SPIRE TEA TREE Leptospermum scoparium ÂHelene StrybingÂ, ÂKeatleyiÂ, ÂPink DamaskÂ, ÂPink PearlÂ, NEW ZEALAND TEA TREE Leucospermum reflexum RED ROCKET Melaleuca armillaris FEATHERY MELALEUCA Melaleuca bracteata WHITE CLOUD TREE Melaleuca decussata LILAC MELALEUCA Melaleuca elliptica GRANITE BOTTLEBRUSH Melaleuca ericifolia HEATH BOTTLEBRUSH Melaleuca hypericifolia HILLOCK BUSH Melaleuca nesophila PINK MELALEUCA Pinus contorta contorta SHORE PINE Pittosporum crassifolium KARO Pittosporum eugenioides TARATA Pittosporum tenuifolium KOHUHU, TAWHIWI Prunus illicifolia HOLLYLEAF CHERRY Psidium cattleianum STRAWBERRY GUAVA Regelia velutina BARRENS REGELIA Rhaphiolepis ÂMajestic Beauty (multi) M. B. INDIAN HAWTHORNE Viburnum suspensum SANDANKWA Xylosma congestum SHINY XYLOSMA Joe

Josh - looks like a good I.d. for macnabiana. The only other thing it could be is a sargentii, and I don't think there are any groves of sargentii that far inland. You're looking for resin dots on the foliage, foliage occuring in flat sprays here and there, and cones with prominent umbos ("horns"). Do you have a close-up or any more pics?

Mike Lee (Colvos Creek) has told me of a plant or planting of 'Howard' in a Seattle garden going back many years. A short time ago this cultivar was carried by more than one local garden center. While still in a 5 gallon pot it seems a reduced size version of the Arctostaphylos manzanita ('Dr. Hurd'?) with greenish leaves and dark bark that is here and there elsewhere in Seattle (if these are, in fact, all the same form). WESTERN GARDEN BOOK has 'Howard' rated Sunset 7 (Rogue Valley, Sierra Foothills) and 'Sunset' rated Sunset 6 (Willamette Valley) so whoever worked on that section apparently didn't think these would be tender up here, but rather would find the summer too cool. (If anything, Sunset 6 is consistently colder in winter than Sunset 5, with the Oregon portion of Sunset 7 at least not being too much different in this respect). I did see some 'Howard' at Emery's Garden loaded with that goofy earlike leaf gall, like you sometimes see on A. urva-ursi.

The problem is the imprecision with which we (people generally, not just gardeners) use the term humidity. There are plenty of places that are always very humid but never have high dew points. For example somewhere like the Scilly Islands - coastal UK generally - and the west coast of NZ. The extremely warm nights in the SE US are more related to their dew points being very high. But I've noted Brighton in early Sept. was a bit muggier than I expected it to be. The Pacific waters north of Santa Barbara CA probably stay below 60F all year, while the English Channel might have been as warm as 65F? Thus making the air a little more humid: though still in a place that is quite far north and where the overall atmospheric circulation is with relatively dry, comfortable air. There's no superheated Gulf of Mexico pumping sauna like air, as happens to us in the eastern 2/3rds. Some friends of my parents who are Irish but have lived in the States for 30 years admitted to being back in Ireland and finding the air uncomfortably muggy sometimes, because they had become used to eastern USA air conditioning and our very dry interior air in buildings. I experienced the same thing in AU & NZ. People just don't "sweat" (no pun intended) the air being a little muggy in a building. (or in one case the train: the supposedly luxury "Tranzalpine" train in NZ felt like a damp locker room to me. The carriages are tightly sealed because the diesel locomotives have to go through some tunnels...but they really need a damper that opens for the rest of the trip. I found it vaguely disgusting. It makes the odors of other people carry over more than they otherwise would. The California Zephyr also has to close the vestibules to pass through the Moffat Tunnel: but in a place with the bone dry air of the Rockies, being sealed up to the outside is a *good* thing!) Further complicating this, however, is the the ultimate culprit with many plants (but not all) is probably soil temperature, and the somewhat related factors soil structure and degree of moisture variability. So this explains why ironclad rhododendrons like 'Mars' are seen in southern Japan and not the SE USA. We have the triple whammy of searing sunny periods to warm the soil up, which is clay with a terrible structure, and sudden, voluminous downpours in summer to saturate the soil and drown roots. While Southern Japan has aerated volcanic soil, cloudier summers, and more steady rainfall. Even though the raw dew point and temperature averages are probably similar to parts of the SE US.